Krista Beth and I

Her grandfather says that when we think we are unobserved we act like sisters.

She’s very bright and imaginative with a great sense of humor that makes her fun to be with. Of course there are times when she’s tired and out of sorts and there are times when I’m tired and out of sorts. When we are both tired and out of sorts, although I’m 60 and she is three, we are most happy to see her mother appear from across the way and rescue us from ourselves.

We bundled up and went out to watch the men work on the electric light wires. We stood on a high snow-bank as they worked machinery and one man rode way up high in the bucket and we talked about how her daddy does that same kind of work.

After a few moments of silence on our part she moved over to me, looked up and said, “I thought my Mamma was here, but you’re here.” And she took my hand, satisfied. Perhaps the roar of the engines had bothered her. I wondered what little fear had moved in her mind. It was soon gone and she was sliding down the bank and climbing up again – down and up – down and up – until her pants were wet through.

I wish I could describe the way her little face looks on a cold day. The hood is drawn tight around it with hair back – just a little pink oval with blue eyes. As she stays out it deepens to a lovely rosy shade all over until it glows and is so bright and radiant that it almost seems that you could hold your hands before her face and warm them. Heart-warming at any rate, this diminutive person with little flower face, brought to bloom by snow and cold.